Stone, Water, Twig
by Kefra
Summary: Yoh, aged six, is sent by his grandpa to gather some unusual items to “further his training.” But how could a rock, a bottle of water, and a tree branch teach him anything at all? Read on to find out.  Oneshot, may be continued if there's demand for it.


Summary: Yoh, aged six, is sent to gather some unusual items to "further his training." But how could a rock, a bottle of water, and a tree branch teach him anything at all? Read on to find out. _Please _review; I'm still new at this and could use all the criticism I can get.

Rating: K+ for mild language and non-graphic injuries.

Written: In one afternoon on July 31, 2007. Very loosely inspired by a story from Stan Sakai's _Usagi Yojimbo_ series.

Disclaimer 1: "Shaman King®" and all related characters and indicia are the intellectual property of Shonen Jump in the U.S. and other territories, and by other corporations elsewhere. I own nothing; this is simply an homage to Hiroyuki Takei's work.

Disclaimer 2: Some rights reserved by the author of this work under the Creative Commons License.

Stone, Water, Twig

The sun had cracked above the horizon about an hour ago, and birds hailed the magnificent sunrise with their cacophonous chirps. All around him the city slowly crept to life, motorcycles roared with mechanical ferocity, horns honked annoyances into the misty morning air, televisions and radios crackled on, playing the news of the day.

Yet through it all, six-year-old Yoh Asakura slept on. He might have continued doing so, were it not for the intervention of a grizzled, wrinkled hand roughly shaking his shoulder.

Yoh stirred slightly, a little frown appearing on the bridge of his delicate nose. Another hand joined in, the mirror image of the first, and Yoh was convulsing now. He coughed softly and groaned, but his eyes did not open.

"Yoh! _Yoh!!_" Finally, reluctantly, he woke up fully.

"Ahhh!" he screamed at the stranger standing above his bed…

"Shhh, Yoh-kun. It's just me." The voice that had just barked to get him awake was gentler now, a tone of authoritative comfort that comes with age.

"Oh!" Yoh looked up again, at the pouf of graying hair upon the back of his head, into his finely wrinkled jowls, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Ojii-san, what time is it?"

"Nearly eight. You've overslept again, Yoh-kun." Yoh saw the disappointment in his grandfather's face and couldn't bear to look up at him anymore, even though the bed was still warm and it beckoned him to return…

With a final shove, Yoh got up, following the elder Asakura downstairs, and seated himself for breakfast. "Eat up, you'll need plenty of energy today."

"Why, Ojii-san? I'm just gonna make dumb leaf spirits again today, right?"

Yohmei looked as though he were about to explain why conjuring leaf spirits was far from dumb, but shook his head slightly and said instead, "No, Yoh-kun. Today you will be gathering."

"Gathering?" the boy asked, squinting. "You mean like medita-tation or whatever?" He paused with a forkful of egg halfway to his mouth, deep in thought.

"I mean to say that I have a list of things for you to gather from the mountainside. Things that I will need to further your training as a shaman."

"Oooh," Yoh said, remembering what his grandfather had told him about the endless lazy days of prosperity that would come if he ever became Shaman King. He quickly finished whatever was left on his plate and stood up. "So what am I looking for?"

Yohmei gave a startled half-grin at his grandson's unusual enthusiasm. "First of all, I will require a piece of sandstone. It has a grainy, yellowish-brown color and a rough texture. It can be found about halfway up the mountain. Next, I want--"

"The mountain?!" Yoh cried.

"Yes, the mountain. The next item is--"

"But I can't climb that! It's too big. I wouldn't make it halfway. It's impossible!"

"Yoh," said Yohmei sternly, "those who call challenges 'impossible' are merely weak of spirit. And the weak-willed never amount to competent shamans. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, Ojii-san," Yoh stammered.

"Now then. I'll also need some water from the spring near the summit. There is nothing quite as pure as natural spring water. Finally I will need a single twig from the copse of pine trees that grow at the very top of the mountain."

Yoh gave his grandpa a quizzical look. A rock, some water and a pine branch were supposed to further his shaman training? Had his old man finally gone cuckoo? As if reading his thoughts, Yohmei smiled. "A rock, some water, and a pine branch. Simple enough, no?"

"Yes, I understand, Ojii-san."

"Good! I wish you luck. And remember," he continued as he waved Yoh off, "I cannot continue training you without these items."

Yoh nodded, but his grandfather was already shrinking in the distance. The base of the mountain was covered in thick gorse; he saw a trail begin to wend its way up behind the dense vegetation. He knew he would need to brave the brambles to get any further, and with a deep breath he entered…

"Ahhh! _Kuso_," he cursed, as pointy, dead branches began scraping at his arms and legs. He flailed and kicked madly, progressing foot by foot, until finally he made it out on the other side. _This is great,_ Yoh thought resentfully, _not even a foot up this mountain and I'm covered in scratches._

He set foot upon the rocky path, nearly losing his footing upon the loose gravel occasionally, but for the most part it was relatively smooth sailing. He gradually rose above the surrounding land, affording him a panoramic view of the city below.

The trek, combined with the late morning heat, began to take its toll. Yoh removed his backpack and withdrew a large plastic bottle of water. Even though it was warm, he felt much refreshed after a few sips. Not much later, though, the noonday sun beat mercilessly upon his back, and he took refuge against a steep craggy overhang.

Yoh leaned back upon the overhang, but got back up as though stung. _This rock wall is really rough! Wait a minute…_He bent down, excitement in his chest, and sure enough, saw the entire wall was textured and sallow. _Sandstone!_

He picked out the biggest piece he could comfortably carry in his backpack. His discovery encouraged him to press on, and before long the barren mountainside sprung to life. The hard rock pathway he trudged upon gave way to loam and soil, much easier on the feet. The sun filtered through the leafy atrium trees high above, granting the sweaty Yoh some reprieve from the heat.

Coming around a bend, Yoh heard the bubbling and sloshing that could only mean one thing: running water. He listened carefully and heard it splashing down the mountainside in a cascade, from a rocky outcropping about twenty feet above him. Unfortunately it was off the beaten path; the way to it was obstructed by overgrown shrubs and tree trunks.

Yoh sighed and got on his hands and knees. He poked his way between trunks, crawled through bushes--he thought he felt something slimy wrap around his ankle and slither its way up his leg--he chanced a quick peek back at his leg and saw two beady pinpricks for eyes staring hungrily back at him, a forked tongue flitting out towards his knee--

"AHHHHHH!!!!" Yoh stood up in blind panic, nearly uprooting the bush he had been crawling through. He tried to kick off the snake, tried to bang his own leg into trunks in hopes of killing the snake, all the while running terrified and blindly…

_Thunk!_ "Ughhhh…" He peeled himself off the mossy rock he had collided with. Suddenly remembering why he had panicked in the first place, he looked down at his leg. The snake was gone, but the sounds of running water grew ever louder. In fact, the source seemed to be…

"Straight up?!" he cried in despair. "This is impossib--"

He stopped himself. _Weak of spirit,_ his grandfather's voice echoed in his mind, _the weak-willed never amount to competent shamans…_ "This is going to be one heck of a challenge," he said instead. He clambered up the mossy rock, the imprint of his body still clear in the lichen, and found a foothold. Using that to leverage his way up, his fingers dug into another crag, and he writhed and pulled his way up with one arm and one leg until panting, gasping, his face red with exertion, his other hand felt flat ground just a foot above.

Yoh rolled over onto his back, panting like a dog, and saw a small pool of water to his right. He crawled over to the spring and plunged his face into the crystal-clear refreshment.

"Ahhh, that's the stuff…" The water was so cool and refreshing that Yoh nearly forgot why he had climbed up to it in the first place. He emptied out his water bottle, angled it into the spring, and capped the full bottle.

"Two down and one to go," Yoh smiled, despite the dull pain that settled in his tired joints. He gave a heroic leap down the rock, landing hard upon the mossy rock below, aching, but knowing he lacked the strength to laboriously climb back down the cliff he'd climbed up earlier. Soon he smelled the distinct aroma that reminded him of Christmas and, for some reason, bathrooms: pine.

The afternoon sun cut through the canopy of trees harshly; Yoh squinted ahead and saw, not too far afield, the unmistakable outline of pine trees. Excitement renewed his tired limbs and invigorated his weary body; he sprinted toward the trees, and they drew ever nearer. He could taste the pine oil as he panted, still running toward the trees, and he could make out individual pine cones on the trees before him--

His traction died as his slipper landed on a slick patch of dead leaves. The ground seemed to shift to his right, before he realized what had happened. He instinctively spread his palms, expecting to land on them, but he took the brunt of it in the knee and shoulder. He rolled upon landing abruptly, then came to a stop on his back, feeling nothing at first, but wincing with watery eyes once the adrenaline wore off. Slowly, gingerly, he made his way to his feet, feeling the sticky warmth trickle down from his skinned knee.

"At least I made it here," Yoh muttered despite himself. The severed branches on the ground were long dead, and a copious number of their brown and brittle needles littered the floor. The lowest branches were nine or ten feet up, and to the young Yoh at least, such a height was unattainable, especially with a bum knee and bruised shoulder.

Dejected, Yoh kicked at a tree trunk. A few dead needles rained down, and the branches give a little twinge, but it would take more than that to dislodge a live branch. He frowned at the trees, thinking of climbing the broad bases but knowing it wouldn't work…The sun drifted lower, and Yoh knew he hadn't much time left…The sky took on a pale yellowish hue, the same color as the stone he felt so elated to find hours ago--

"_Wakaru_! I know!" He removed the stone from his backpack, judged its weight in his hand, and wound up to throw it. It arced into the tree's lower branches and, just before it looked like it would get snagged in a mass of strong sticks, glanced off one of them right where it met the tree. The stone ricocheted, kicking up dead needles as it thudded to the ground; the branch teetered and twirled for a gut-wrenching moment before it, too, succumbed to gravity.

Yoh gave a leap into the air. He snatched up his stone and picked up the newly severed branch, and a sense of accomplishment filled him. For the first time of his young life he felt utterly exhausted, and somehow it was overwhelmingly…_enjoyable._

His trek down the mountain was much less taxing than the one up, and he adopted a leisurely stride as he breathed the pure air. He was out of the greenery now, entering the barren gray cliffs, but the sun was much more mellow now. Despite his knee, his shoulder, his throbbing limbs, an aura of satisfaction permeated him.

It was nearly dusk when Yoh made his way home. He saw Yohmei sitting in the Zen garden, his back turned to him. "Ojii-san!"

"Ah! Yoh-kun. Do you have something for me?"

"I sure do!" He tore open his backpack, and presented Grandpa with the stone, the bottle of water, and the pine twig.

Yohmei smiled broadly, clapping his grandson on the shoulder. "I knew you could do it." Yoh winced, as his shoulder was still quite tender, but felt pride from his praise anyway.

"So…are you going to show me how these things are for my shaman training now?"

Still smiling, Yohmei nodded. He uncapped the bottle of water and, as his grandson watched with a mixture of bewilderment and horror, drank several mouthfuls. "Ahh…There really is nothing quite like fresh spring water, is there?"

He then poured a little water into his palms and polished the sandstone with it. Bits of sediment and eroded rock floated within the liquid for a while before he held it up, turning it over in his wrinkled fingers. "Sandstone…formed from sand under millions of years of pressure and heat. A very resilient rock, yet quite pretty, really." Yoh looked at it closer. Now that it was cleaned, he saw glassy glints of quartz sparkling within a canvas that was nearly white, darkening to yellow and even pink in spots. Pretty indeed, but Yoh still had no idea what the point of it was.

Yohmei laid the rock down beside the water and grasped the twig between his fingers. He ran it beneath his nose and sniffed deeply. "Oh, Yoh-kun, this is a very fragrant specimen. You know, the scent of pine is very aromatic…"

Yoh looked blankly at his grandpa.

"That means its smell affects your feelings. Pine is a relaxant. It calms you down--"

"No, Ojii-san! I mean, what do these three things have to do with my training?!" Yoh demanded, his cute fists balled up at his sides. He looked tense; he could probably have used a few sniffs of pine himself.

Yohmei smiled serenely, looking deeply into his grandson's agitated eyes. "Listen carefully, Yoh-kun." He picked up the bottle of spring water and sloshed it around within its bottle. "Yoh-kun, are you like the spring water, born from a fissure in the earth, bubbling up pure and innocent? Do you flow down the mountain carefree, running where it is easiest to do so, always taking the low ground? Do you become," he asked, spitting into the water bottle and shaking it until the bubbles of his spittle disappeared, "more ill, more corrupted, more _polluted,_ the longer you flow? And when your journey is over, do you simply flow into a larger body of water, forgotten?"

Yoh was silent, taking in every word. His grandfather continued, "Or perhaps you think of yourself as this sandstone, your true self concealed by layers of grime and dirt? Like the sandstone, hardened over a long period of time, and subjected to great pressure? Your personality, like the rock's surface, callous and abrasive, resilient, impervious to crushing blows and even the sharpest knife? The sandstone has one weakness, however," he spoke, pausing to roll the clean sandstone in the dirt again. "Its very existence cannot be destroyed, but it is vulnerable, very vulnerable indeed, to that which it does not have, and therefore cannot defend against. The sandstone is vulnerable to tenderness." Yohmei gently poured water over the sandstone, and the dirt washed away again, revealing its true form once more.

Yoh nodded slowly, comprehension beginning to register on his face.

"Or," continued his grandpa, "are you like the pine branch? You are, like the water, born from the earth, innocent and carefree. But unlike the water that flows down and takes the path of least resistance, the pine grows upwards, struggles against the forces that pull lesser beings down. Like the water, it is part of a greater being, but unlike a drop of water lost in the ocean, the twig upon the pine tree retains its own identity--it is distinct from the others. The pine branch improves itself, shedding dead needles and growing back healthy ones, while the water simply becomes more polluted. And the pine branch can face adversity," he paused, plunging the twig with full force into the water and pulling it back out unscathed, "without losing its calm." He sniffed the dripping branch once more and laid it next to the stone. He closed his eyes and waved his hand over the three objects. "So, Yoh-kun. Which are you? The water, the stone, or the twig?"

Yoh closed his eyes and thought about his actions on the mountain, and smiled. "The twig, of course!"

Yohmei returned his smile. "I am glad for it. I think you will find," he said, "that as it was on the mountain today, so it will be for every other sojourn you undergo. The journey always is more enjoyable than the destination."

Yoh grinned one of his childish grins. "Ojii-san, I don't think it works that way. This training is the journey and being Shaman King is the destination, right?"

His grandpa sighed. "That's a little different. I'll see you tomorrow at seven, Yoh-kun."

Yoh fell asleep quickly, exhausted from both the journey and the destination. He dreamt of a pine tree's roots, growing over crumbling sandstone and absorbing water; then the tree gave way to a teenage boy he thought looked vaguely familiar, standing before the visage of a ghostly yet intimidating samurai. _Yes_, he thought, _I think I'm going to like this journey very much._


End file.
